1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reflector with a preventive mechanism against glaring (non-glaring type reflector) which can vary the reflectance thereof electrically.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A non-glaring type reflector which varies the reflectance electrically, has been conventionally known. Such a reflector is provided with a liquid crystal layer on a mirror reflection surface, and a voltage is applied to this liquid crystal layer to control the molecular axis orientation. In this manner, the transmittance or absorption of the light through the liquid crystal layer can be controlled so that the luminous flux reflected by the mirror reflection surface can be controlled. Such types of liquid crystals have been used as n-type nematic liquid crystals which cause dynamic scattering, twist-nematic liquid crystals which control polarization of light, and guest-host type liquid crystals.
However, the conventional reflectors which use the aforementioned types of liquid crystals have the following disadvantages.
Firstly, in the non-glaring type reflector employing a dynamic scattering effect, the image thereof looks slightly opaque on the non-glaring operation because of the light scattering in the liquid crystal caused by the applied voltage.
Secondly, a polarizer or analyzer must be used for the reflector employing twist-nematic or guest-host type liquid crystals to control the polarization of light. Therefore, the light polarized in only one direction is reflected so that the image is dark except on the non-glaring operation. In addition the distorted image is shown, depending on the angle of the driver's eyes to the mirror surface, and the visual angle of the image recognized of the driver is narrow because of the effect by polarizer.